The following discussion is not to be construed as an admission with regard to the common general knowledge in Australia.
Synthetic polymeric membranes are well known in the field of ultrafiltration and microfiltration for a variety of applications including desalination, gas separation, filtration and dialysis. The properties of the membranes vary depending on the morphology of the membrane i.e. properties such as symmetry, pore shape, pore size and the chemical nature of the polymeric material used to form the membrane.
Different membranes can be used for specific separation processes, including microfiltration, ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis. Microfiltration and ultrafiltration are pressure driven processes and are distinguished by the size of the particle or molecule that the membrane is capable of retaining or passing. Microfiltration can remove very fine colloidal particles in the micrometer and submicrometer range. As a general rule, microfiltration can filter particles down to 0.05 μm, whereas ultrafiltration can retain particles as small as 0.01 μm and smaller. Reverse Osmosis operates on an even smaller scale.
Microporous phase inversion membranes are particularly well suited to the application of removal of viruses and bacteria.
A large surface area is needed when a large filtrate flow is required. A commonly used technique to minimize the size of the apparatus used is to form a membrane in the shape of a hollow porous fibre. A large number of these hollow fibres (up to several thousand) are bundled together and housed in modules. The fibres act in parallel to filter a solution for purification, generally water, which flows in contact with the outer surface of all the fibres in the module. By applying pressure, the water is forced into the central channel, or lumen, of each of the fibres while the microcontaminants remain trapped outside the fibres. The filtered water collects inside the fibres and is drawn off through the ends.
The fibre module configuration is a highly desirable one as it enables the modules to achieve a very high surface area per unit volume.
In addition to the arrangement of fibres in a module, it is also necessary for the polymeric fibres themselves to possess the appropriate microstructure to allow microfiltration to occur.
Desirably, the microstructure of ultrafiltration and microfiltration membranes is asymmetric, that is, the pore size gradient across the membrane is not homogeneous, but rather varies in relation to the cross-sectional distance within the membrane. Hollow fibre membranes are preferably asymmetric membranes possessing tightly bunched small pores on one or both outer surfaces and larger more open pores towards the inside edge of the membrane wall.
This microstructure has been found to be advantageous as it provides a good balance between mechanical strength and filtration efficiency.
As well as the microstructure, the chemical properties of the membrane are also important. The hydrophilic or hydrophobic nature of a membrane is one such important property.
Hydrophobic surfaces are defined as “water hating” and hydrophilic surfaces as “water loving”. Many of the polymers used to cast porous membranes are hydrophobic polymers. Water can be forced through a hydrophobic membrane by use of sufficient pressure, but the pressure needed is very high (150-300 psi), and a membrane may be damaged at such pressures and generally does not become wetted evenly.
Hydrophobic microporous membranes are typically characterised by their excellent chemical resistance, biocompatibility, low swelling and good separation performance. Thus, when used in water filtration applications, hydrophobic membranes need to be hydrophilised or “wet out” to allow water permeation. Some hydrophilic materials are not suitable for microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes that require mechanical strength and thermal stability since water molecules can play the role of plasticizers.
Currently, poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE), polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) are the most popular and available hydrophobic membrane materials. PVDF exhibits a number of desirable characteristics for membrane applications, including thermal resistance, reasonable chemical resistance (to a range of corrosive chemicals, including sodium hypochlorite), and weather (UV) resistance.
While PVDF has to date proven to be the most desirable material from a range of materials suitable for microporous membranes, the search continues for membrane materials which will provide better chemical stability and performance while retaining the desired physical properties required to allow the membranes to be formed and worked in an appropriate manner.
In particular, a membrane is required which has a superior resistance (compared to PVDF) to more aggressive chemical species, in particular, oxidising agents and to conditions of high pH i.e. resistance to caustic solutions. In particular with water filtration membranes, chlorine resistance is highly desirable. Chlorine is used to kill bacteria and is invariably present in town water supplies. Even at low concentrations, a high throughput of chlorinated water can expose membranes to large amounts of chlorine over the working life of a membrane can lead to yellowing or brittleness which are signs of degradation of the membrane.
Microporous synthetic membranes are particularly suitable for use in hollow fibres and are produced by phase inversion. In this process, at least one polymer is dissolved in an appropriate solvent and a suitable viscosity of the solution is achieved. The polymer solution can be cast as a film or hollow fibre, and then immersed in precipitation bath such as water. This causes separation of the homogeneous polymer solution into a solid polymer and liquid solvent phase. The precipitated polymer forms a porous structure containing a network of uniform pores. Production parameters that affect the membrane structure and properties include the polymer concentration, the precipitation media and temperature and the amount of solvent and non-solvent in the polymer solution. These factors can be varied to produce microporous membranes with a large range of pore sizes (from less than 0.1 to 20 μm), and possess a variety of chemical, thermal and mechanical properties.
Hollow fibre ultrafiltration and microfiltration membranes are generally produced by either diffusion induced phase separation (the DIPS process) or by thermally induced phase separation (the TIPS process).
Determining the appropriate conditions for carrying out the TIPS process is not simply a matter of substituting one polymer for another. In this regard, casting a polymeric hollow fibre membrane via the TIPS process is very different to casting or extruding a bulk item from the same material. The TIPS procedure is highly sensitive, each polymer requiring careful selection of a co-solvent, a non-solvent, a lumen forming solvent or non-solvent, a coating solvent or non-solvent and a quench, as well as the appropriate production parameters, in order to produce porous articles with the desired chemically induced microstructure in addition to the overall extruded high fibre structure.
The TIPS process is described in more detail in PCT AU94/00198 (WO 94/17204) AU 653528, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The quickest procedure for forming a microporous system is thermal precipitation of a two component mixture, in which the solution is formed by dissolving a thermoplastic polymer in a solvent which will dissolve the polymer at an elevated temperature but will not do so at lower temperatures. Such a solvent is often called a latent solvent for the polymer. The solution is cooled and, at a specific temperature which depends upon the rate of cooling, phase separation occurs and the polymer rich phase separates from the solvent.
All practical thermal precipitation methods follow this general process which is reviewed by Smolders et al in Kolloid Z.u.Z Polymer, 43, 14-20 (1971). The article distinguishes between spinodal and binodal decomposition of a polymer solution.
The equilibrium condition for liquid-liquid phase separation is defined by the binodal curve for the polymer/solvent system. For binodal decomposition to occur, the solution of a polymer in a solvent is cooled at an extremely slow rate until a temperature is reached below which phase separation occurs and the polymer rich phase separates from the solvent.
It is more usual for the phases not to be pure solvent and pure polymer since there is still some solubility of the polymer in the solvent and solvent in the polymer, there is a polymer rich phase and a polymer poor phase. For the purposes of this discussion, the polymer rich phase will be referred to as the polymer phase and the polymer poor phase will be referred to as the solvent phase.
When the rate of cooling is comparatively fast, the temperature at which the phase separation occurs is generally lower than in the binodal case and the resulting phase separation is called spinodal decomposition.
According to the process disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,247,498, the relative polymer and solvent concentrations are such that phase separation results in fine droplets of solvent forming in a continuous polymer phase. These fine droplets form the cells of the membrane. As cooling continues, the polymer freezes around the solvent droplets.
As the temperature is lowered, these solubilities decrease and more and more solvent droplets appear in the polymer matrix. Syneresis of the solvent from the polymer results in shrinkage and cracking, thus forming interconnections or pores between the cells. Further cooling sets the polymer. Finally, the solvent is removed from the structure.
Known thermal precipitation methods of porous membrane formation depend on the polymer rich phase separating from the solvent followed by cooling so that the solidified polymer can then be separated from the solvent. Whether the solvent is liquid or solid when it is removed from the polymer depends on the temperature at which the operation is conducted and the melting temperature of the solvent.
True solutions require that there be a solvent and a solute. The solvent constitutes a continuous phase and the solute is uniformly distributed in the solvent with no solute-solute interaction. Such a situation is almost unknown with the polymer solutions. Long polymer chains tend to form temporary interactions or bonds with other polymer chains with which they come into contact. Polymer solutions are thus rarely true solutions but lie somewhere between true solutions and mixtures.
In many cases it is also difficult to state which is the solvent and which is the solute. In the art, it is accepted practice to call a mixture of polymer and solvent a solution if it is optically clear without obvious inclusions of either phase in the other. By optically clear, the skilled artisan will understand that polymer solutions can have some well known light scattering due to the existence of large polymer chains. Phase separation is then taken to be that point, known as the cloud point, where there is an optically detectable separation. It is also accepted practice to refer to the polymer as the solute and the material with which it is mixed to form the homogeneous solution as the solvent.
In the present case the inventors have sought to find a way to prepare membranes without the use of highly toxic solvents, and in particular, to prepare hollow fibre poly(ethylene chlorotrifluoroethylene) membranes. Poly(ethylene chlorotrifluoroethylene), is a 1:1 alternating copolymer of ethylene and chlorotrifluoroethylene, and having the following structure:—(—CH2—CH2—CFCl—CF2—)n—
While the embodiments of the invention are described herein with respect to HALAR® fluoropolymer, this term is used herein to encompass fluoropolymer equivalents, such as—(—(CH2—CH2—)m—CX2—CX2—)—wherein each X is independently selected from F or Cl, and where m is chosen so as to be between 0 and 1, so as to allow the ethylene portion of the polymer to range from 0 to 50%. An example of a HALAR® fluoropolymer equivalent is PCTFE.
It has been known for some time to produce flat sheet poly(ethylene chlorotrifluoroethylene) membranes, and the processes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,836, for example. The previous methods were not amenable to producing hollow fibres and moreover, utilised solvents which are highly toxic with high environmental impact, such as 1,3,5-trichlorobenzene, dibutyl phthalate and dioctyl phthalate.
The properties of poly(ethylene chlorotrifluoroethylene) make it highly desirable in the field of ultrafiltration and microfiltration. In particular, poly(ethylene chlorotrifluoroethylene) has extremely good properties in relation to its resistance both to chlorine and to caustic solutions, but also to ozone and other strong oxidising agents. While these desiderata have been established for some time, it was hitherto unknown how to fulfill the long felt need to make hollow fibre membranes from such a desirable compound. Further, a disadvantage in relation to the existing prepararatory methods for HALAR® fluoropolymer flat sheet membranes is that they require the use of highly toxic solvents or solvents that are of dubious safety at the very least. For instance, the conventional state of the art is that the solvents needed are aromatic solvents such as dibutyl phthalate (DBP), dioctyl phthalate (DOP) and 1,3,5-trichlorobenzene (TCB). Such difficult solvents are required due to the chemical stability of poly(ethylene chlorotrifluoroethylene) and its resistance to most common solvents below 150° C.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome or ameliorate at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art, or to provide a useful alternative, particularly in terms of methods of production.